Svensson, Lotta

Abstract [en]

Starting in the everyday life of Söderhamn’s youth, this thesis presents the driving forces that affect youth as they make decisions to stay in or to leave their home region.

The research has been done with an interactive approach in close collaboration with youth and adults, and a number of different methods have been used. Based on the interviews, essays, questionnaires, conversations and meetings that underlie this work, the ambition has been to participate and contribute to the formation of knowledge in dialog with the youth and the adults who surround them.

The dissertation (thesis) shows that society’s basic structures have great influence on youth’s decision whether to stay or leave. Important factors are actual circumstances, such as the access that youth have to resources – economical, social, and cultural. Society’s gender order has a big impact on the question whether to move or stay. Likewise, the tension between center and periphery plays an essential role – where the power to define what is “right” and “natural” coincides with values on how youth “are” and “should be”.

The dissertation (thesis) shows that the interplay between these factors appears different for different individuals and groups, and that the interplay has significance both for the move/stay –decision and for the youth’s desire and possibility to participate in and have influence over society’s development in the region.